L.A. hoping to save shelter dogs and cats with ban on pet-store sales

Woody, a milk-chocolate-colored 3-year-old American pit bull, eagerly presses his nose up to the gate at the city's North Central shelter and wags his tail every time someone walks by.

But like thousands of animals across Los Angeles, if no one adopts him soon, Woody is looking at a death sentence.

Los Angeles city officials are hoping a proposed new ordinance would help Woody and other abandoned animals at the city's overcrowded shelters avoid that fate.

The Los Angeles City Council this month will consider a three-year ban on the sale of commercially bred dogs, cats and rabbits in pet stores. The idea is to steer prospective pet owners to local animal shelters to alleviate overcrowding and reduce the number of animals euthanized.

City officials also hope to cut demand from inhumane breeding facilities or so-called puppy mills and kitten factories where breeders keep animals in cramped, filthy living quarters and force females to breed whenever in heat.

City Councilman Paul Koretz, who proposed the ban, said the ultimate goal is for Los Angeles to have no-kill shelters.

"That's going to take a tremendous amount of work and many steps," said Koretz, chairman of the Personnel and Animal Welfare Committee.

"This is just one step in that direction."

According to a draft of the ordinance, no business would be allowed to sell dogs, cats or rabbits unless the animals are obtained from an animal shelter or a nonprofit humane organization registered with the city's Department of Animal Services.

While some proponents call the ban a no-brainer, others in the pet industry call it a "witch hunt," an economy killer and a potential boon for the black market.

"Anybody that would engage in substandard breeding already doesn't follow the rules," said Michael Canning, president of the Pet Industry Joint Advisory Council based in Washington, D.C.

"This will just drive people to sell their puppies on the Internet or some other unregulated way like the flea markets or out of their trunks on the street."

The Los Angeles Department of Animal Services takes in thousands of animals a year, many of which are never adopted.

In the 2011-12 fiscal year, city animal shelters took in more than 57,000 animals -- 35,405 dogs and 21,883 cats -- and euthanized 25 percent of the dogs and 57 percent of cats.

Los Angeles would join a growing number of cities across the nation, from Brick, N.J., to Albuquerque, N.M., to ban the sale of commercially bred pets.

Closer to home, California cities that have adopted a similar ban include Chula Vista, Glendale, Hermosa Beach, Huntington Beach, Irvine, Laguna Beach, South Lake Tahoe and West Hollywood. Burbank city leaders are expected to consider a pet sale ban on Oct. 16.

But a ban in Los Angeles, advocates say, could make a huge impact.

"Because of the population of Los Angeles, and because of the important role Los Angeles plays culturally on the national stage, a ban would have reverberations nationally," said Nick Nassuet, a special investigator for Last Chance for Animals, an international nonprofit organization headquartered in Los Angeles.

But Canning said the ban would close 11 local pet stores and put more than 60 people out of work. He added that there are no studies showing people who want a purebred pet will go to an animal shelter if they can't get one from a pet store.

"I would like to see the city place rules on the breeding of pets so consumers in Los Angeles can be assured that if they buy a dog in a pet store that they're getting it from a very good breeder," he said.

"Pet stores should be required to examine where they get their pets in greater detail and let the consumers know about the quality of where their dogs are purchased."

Kandice Roe, owner of Olympic Pet Shop in Los Angeles, said it's hard to believe that her family's 11-year business could be shuttered.

"I understand they're trying to get more people to adopt, but it's unfair to close down businesses like ours that don't deal with puppy mills but still want to provide purebred animals," she said.

Roe, whose store specializes in various breeds from pugs to Yorkshire terriers and Shih Tzus said she regularly visits her licensed breeders in Littlerock and Orange County to ensure her puppies are healthy and raised in humane conditions. She said her breeders only have up to six studs and females, and are often hobby breeders who sell litters produced by show pets.

"It just sounds like there is a witch hunt against reputable breeders," said Karen Moureaux of Sylmar, who breeds border collies.

While Moureaux does not sell her pups to pet stores, she worries that laws such as the pet store ban are another step toward eliminating breeders altogether. She points to existing city restrictions on how many animals residents can have and high license fees charged to pet owners who do not want to spay or neuter their animals for the purpose of breeding.

"A lot of things they've tried to pass are so broadly worded that while it may not be intended to encompass small breeders, it may be used against them," she said.

"The Los Angeles City Council is very hostile, even to hobby breeders who are very careful about screening buyers. Many move out of L.A. because of the restrictions imposed on them," said Turner, who has bred golden retrievers in the past but stopped due to strict regulations.

"I hate pet stores and I can't imagine buying from pet stores. However, with that said, the pet stores are fairly regulated . . . so if we're going to say pet stores can't sell dogs, where will people go? The answer is online where there are no restrictions -- it's the Wild West on the Internet."

Shannon von Roemer, owner of Bark N' Bitches in Los Angeles' Fairfax Village, said the ban is aimed at cutting demand for puppy mills and doesn't see how humane breeders will be affected.

"This isn't about going to a reputable breeder and getting the dog of your choice, this is about trying to stop people who just want a pet from going to a pet shop and creating the demand for puppy mills," she said.

"If people want a certain dog and really make the conscious effort of finding a reputable breeder, they deserve getting that dog," she said. "But if it's not about a particular breed and just about getting a cute puppy, there's no reason not to adopt a rescue."

Like many modern pet shops now opening across the country -- ban or no ban -- von Roemer's boutique pet shop follows a humane model and only provides rescued pets for adoption.

Local malls like Los Angeles' Westside Pavilion and Santa Monica Place have also already pledged to not lease to pet shops selling commercially bred animals.

In November, the Westfield Promenade in Woodland Hills will be welcoming its newest tenant: PETOPIA.

The nonprofit animal rescue organization, in partnership with Valley Cats Inc., plans to set up a pet shop at the mall to house several animal rescue organizations.

"There aren't a lot of options in terms of where rescue groups can show, but there are plenty of pets without homes. So what we're doing is teaming with groups to show -- in the mall -- rescued pets as competition to those puppy mill-supplied stores," said PETOPIA co-founder Yvette Berke. "We're trying to beat them on their own turf."

"I think most of the people who get an animal in a shopping mall tendnot to be about looking for a perfect purebred animal. It's more like they see a cute dog or cat and want it," Koretz said.

The councilman even admitted that 25 years ago, he was that naive pet store shopper when he bought a bichon frise for his wife.

"I'm 100 percent sure my dog was a puppy mill dog, but I didn't realize at the time that I was causing any harm," Koretz said. "Now, I would never even think about buying an animal from a pet store."

According to Last Chance for Animals, there are more than 5,000 puppy mills and kitten factories throughout the country licensed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. These licensed mills, many in Arkansas, Missouri and Pennsylvania, provide local pet stores with an estimated 500,000 puppies and kittens each year.

But Nassuet emphasizes that being licensed by the USDA and/or the American Kennel Club does not mean the mills are operating under humane conditions.

Ed Buck, a West Hollywood resident who helped push through a similar ban in his city last year, said while Los Angeles is faced with a dilemma when trying to deal with puppy mills, particularly those outside city limits,"what we can do is deal with the demand side."

"It's not just the humane thing to do," he said. "It's sane public policy."

Koretz is confident the new law will pass and is hopeful that in Los Angeles "soon the new normal is adoption."

That new normal couldn't come any faster for animals like Woody.

While there isn't an adoption deadline at city shelters, they do have limited space and the clock starts ticking once a dog or cat is delivered to a shelter's kennel. Some may get adopted within days and dodge death, while others are lucky to have 30 days at the shelter before getting put down.

"This is a tough one," Turner said. "It's a tug-at-your-heartstrings kind of issue."